


Some Sunny Day

by LeviLoser



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 3
Genre: Angst, F/F, Past Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-26
Updated: 2016-04-11
Packaged: 2018-05-23 07:19:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6109288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeviLoser/pseuds/LeviLoser
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Lone Wanderer's return to the vault has her and Amata dwelling on the past, and specifically their relationship. Started for Femslash February!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Amata’s sure she knows exactly how many tons the door to Vault 101 weighs. She’s probably been told a dozen times by her father, seen it as a bonus question on pop quizzes for years… But as it rolls and scrapes itself open once more, dwarfing the two women standing in front of it, all she can think of are the hundreds of unsaid words tangled in her throat, begging to be let out.

_I never wanted this to happen._

_I miss you._

“Amata,” Rose murmurs, barely audible over the screech of steel against steel. “It doesn’t have to be like this --”

“I’m sorry.”

_I love you._

She doesn’t cry -- she’s the Overseer now, for God’s sake -- but as Rose disappears beyond that door, it takes every ounce of strength she has to keep her composure until she can lock herself in her quarters.

It was like seeing a ghost. Rose was… Recognizable, but Amata could see what the wasteland had done to her. Her dark skin had been weathered by the sun and scarred by -- well, she didn’t know. Thinking about it made her stomach twist. Her once long braids had been buzzed down to the barest hint of curls, and Amata can still feel how strongly she’d wanted to reach out and touch them.

Now she never will.

 

The first time they kissed, they were fourteen. They’d had a class on the importance of reproduction within the vault, and Rose had protested all the way through. _It just wasn’t sustainable,_ she’d said. _We’ll all be inbred before you know it._

_What if some of us don’t want to get married?_

Butch called her a dyke in the hallway and they’d both left with bloody noses. Amata was there to patch her up without the good doctor finding out, and to listen to her angered rants. Rose always did speak before she thought things through.

_So what if I don’t like guys?_

It all happened so fast from there. Amata’d been taken aback at first, Rose sniffling and sobbing even through her anger. Rose’s hands, soft in Amata’s.

Her lips softer.

  


After that they tiptoed around everyone - peers and adults alike - to keep things under wraps. For all that the both of them were made fun of for being “daddy’s girls”, neither of their fathers heard a word of any of it. Rose dismantled more than a few security cameras to make sure of that and took care of a few more with her BB gun.

Rose always had so many hopeful ideas - that they could open the vault and make peace with the people of the wasteland (if any existed), work with them. If that happened, they wouldn’t need to get married, need to have children to keep the vault going. They could be together. For _real._ Without hiding.

Amata didn’t like to talk about that. It was unrealistic. Best not to get their hopes up for something that would never happen. 

Amata couldn’t just leave.

Rose had begged her to when she fled the vault. Begged her to come with her. Begged her to do anything but stand by and let her father be the tyrant he was.

All she could do was let her leave and pray that the wastes would treat her better than it did in her nightmares. Each night she saw Rose torn to pieces, or sick from radiation poisoning, or little more than bones, and there was nothing she could do to soothe her fears.

Rose was gone. There was no knowing where she was, whether she was alive or another victim of the harsh outside world.

 

Remembering it all has Amata hunched over on her bed with her head in her hands.

This is for the good of the vault, she reasons. It can open, but Rose has to stay away. To keep the peace in a peaceless vault.

She’s lived without her once. She can do it again. 

But god, oh god, she hates herself for it.


	2. Chapter 2

The scorching sun on her face as she leaves the vault reminds Rose of the first time she'd left, only now it feels...

Empty. 

The first time she had her father to find. She had hope that things would be alright - and she did still have hope for the wasteland, but none for herself. Maybe in time, she could grow past this, but in this moment she could only feel crushing defeat.

Oh, Amata. Would it have been less painful to never see her face again than it was being told to leave forever? She'd never know now. It was a sting she never expected, a rejection worse than her first shove into the wastes.

Rose forces a smile as her faithful canine companion greets her by licking her hands mere steps outside the vault. At least there was Dogmeat. She dries her tears, takes a deep breath, and begins the trek to Megaton.

The town of scrap's starting to feel more like a home than the vault, but it's missing companionship. Her house there is larger than any living quarters she could've hoped for, but it's hardest letting go the dreams of what could have been. 

In the vault they couldn't have been together, not openly. She knew that. The vault was set in its ways and not being part of their plan to repopulate just wasn't an option. But she had hope that they could at least _try_. Sneak around like they always had, live through loveless marriages and spend quiet moments together when they could.

She's not sure it would have worked, but in her mind it had always been worth trying. Amata had always been worth trying for.

Amata was worth a million black eyes from Butch Deloria and his cronies. Amata was worth getting in trouble for. Amata was worth facing the vault again. 

She'd never intended to go back - figured it was a useless thing to try and a death wish if anyone actually opened the door to her. Amata always said she was too much of an optimist. Maybe it’s true the wastes have changed her. Maybe it’s too much change.

Amata had always been afraid of the outside, of the possibilities it carried. Rose had been to a certain extent - but more than fear she felt a thirst for knowledge of what _was_ out there. It’s hard for her to say whether or not she’d do it over again, if she could keep her father safe in the vault and live out her days there. Knowing what she does now about her family history, it seems as though that was never a possibility.

Rose had hope. Always had. Always asked ‘why’, never took any answer at face value whether it was from a teacher, her father, the overseer. Amata called her stubborn. Rose called herself a scientist.

Amata was pragmatic, realistic. Rose supposes that she still is. While she didn’t take anyone’s word for absolute truth, she wouldn’t fight to try and find what the truth really was. The status quo was where she was comfortable. Rose called her a goody two shoes. Amata always forgave her for it, eventually. She wishes she’d forgive her now, but maybe it’s not a matter of forgiveness. At least not for Amata.

The people of the vault will never trust her. That’s not Amata’s fault, but she’s not sure she’ll ever feel like there was nothing that could be done to change it. She doesn’t want to be in the vault anyway - she just wants Amata back. Being overseer comes first, she supposes. But to be banned outright from a place she once called home…

Rose lets Dogmeat run inside first before letting her bag hit the floor with a thump. She’s cleaned it up nice by wasteland standards - she’s got a Mister Handy and everything. If Amata’d give it a chance, Rose is willing to bet she wouldn’t completely hate it.

She needs to stop daydreaming about this. Amata is staying in the vault. The bed upstairs is cold. There is work to be done if she wants the wasteland to be fruitful again, and the people of the outside world can’t wait for clean water because she’s pining for her first - and at this point, only - love.

The vault is open now. If she can’t go back in, the least she can do is make news that can’t help but make its way inside.


End file.
